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Toi Ara Poutama | Arts in Corrections
4. Toi Ara Poutama | Arts in Corrections
This programme is about working with Ara Poutama Aotearoa Department of Corrections and the wider community through Arts Access Aotearoa’s Arts in Corrections Advisory Service. We provide information and advice about arts activities and programmes that support the rehabilitation process of offenders and their reintegration into the community on release.
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Under this programme, Arts Access Aotearoa:
• highlighted the value of arts programmes in building prisoners’ educational skills to an international audience.
We facilitated a panel of three Arts in Corrections leaders (Rue-Jade Morgan, Beth Hill and Kristie Mortimer) in a 30-minute video presentation to the online 14th International Australasian Correctional Education and Training Conference in November.
• encouraged the Department of Corrections to instigate a national Arts in Corrections framework by conducting a literature review that examined the benefits that accrue from the delivery of arts programmes in criminal justice settings.
• promoted the value of arts programmes in prisons by working with mainstream media to publish three major
Dominion Post/Stuff articles.
• acknowledged the outstanding delivery of arts and cultural programmes at Hawkes Bay Regional Prison by presenting five of its staff with awards at Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards 2021. We also welcomed two taonga created by a carver in the prison as the trophies for the two Arts in Corrections awards.
• advised and supported five prisoners or former prisoners through the Artists Pathways initiative to develop their arts practice in the community on release from prison.
• increased the visibility and raised awareness of prisoners’ artistic talents by advising the Department of Corrections and then promoting its new gallery showcasing prisoners’ art in its refurbished office in Wellington in 2021.
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68 people attended a total of three face-to-face and one online Arts in Corrections Network meetings in 2021
20 artworks from 14 prison sites with distance learning through The Learning Connexion were displayed in the new exhibition space in Ara Poutama Aotearoa’s refurbished national office in Wellington
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5 prisoners or former prisoners were supported through the Artists Pathways initiative.
134 queries about Arts in Corrections were responded to by Arts Access Aotearoa in 2021.
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221 people attend the ACEA online conference from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland and USA.
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886 subscribers received the Arts Access in Corrections e-newsletter in December 2021.
Dr Helen Farley, Practice Manager Education and Training – Southern Region, Department of Corrections, commenting on Arts Access Aotearoa’s presentation to the online ACEA Conference
Kyle Ellison talks about the carpentry skills and knowledge of tikanga the men in Hawkes Bay Regional Prison gain when they build model marae
How tikanga and toi Māori can change lives
Taking part in a whakairo course at Te Wananga o Aotearoa in 2018 was life-changing for Kyle Ellison and Pirika Taepa, on both a personal level and for the tāne they work with at Hawkes Bay Regional Prison.
Both men work as offender employment instructors at the prison. Thanks to the skills and knowledge they gained on the whakairo course, they have completely changed what – and how – they teach at the prison to give it a strong Māori focus.
Kyle (Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Porou), who teaches a Limited Credit Programme (LCP) certificate in wood manufacturing, says studying at the wananga inspired him to move from teaching a completely paper-based course to one that incorporates a te ao Māori worldview.
“Our men come to us with limited literacy and numeracy skills, and the arts help them overcome that in a big way,” Kyle says.
The men taking his course gain practical carpentry and joinery skills by building model marae. At the same time, they learn the structure and tikanga around the marae – something most of them have little knowledge of.
“By giving them the opportunity to reconnect to their Māori identity, you see a fantastic change in their demeanour,” he says. “It’s amazing to see the transformation in some of the men.”
Pirika Taepa (Te Arawa, Te Atiawa and Ngati Kahungungu ki Wairarapa) was also inspired by learning whakairo at Te Wananga o Aotearoa. So inspired, in fact, that he is now completing a degree in Māori visual arts through the wananga.
He has also developed a course at Hawkes Bay Regional Prison, teaching the men how to paint kowhaiwhai – the decorative patterns that adorn wharenui and other traditional buildings.
As with Kyle’s course, it provides an opportunity for the men to explore their whakapapa and connect with te ao Māori.
During his 24 years working for Corrections, Pirika has noticed that one of the things the men is most interested in is toi Māori – Māori arts. Through his own study he also knew how therapeutic it can be to paint kowhaiwhai. Read the full story
Kyle Ellison and Pirika Taepa, Hawkes Bay Regional Prison, received the Arts Access Corrections Whai Tikanga Award, presented by Jeremy Lightfoot, Chief Executive, Department of Corrections, at Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards 2021.
Sharne Parkinson, Invercargill Prison, was Highly Commended.
Tipene Rangihuna (Pāpā T), EIT and Hawkes Bay Regional Prison, received the Arts Access Corrections Māui Tikitiki a Taranga Award, presented by Hon Kelvin Davis, Minister of Corrections, at Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards 2021.
Juanita Davis, Whanganui Prison; Zak Devey and Youth Arts NZ; and Annah Mac, Otago Corrections Facility were Highly Commended.
Men in the Navigate Unit at Christchurch Men’s Prison can participate in regular workshops with Christchurch Symphony Orchestra musicians
Research backs Pathway approach
Independent research is an important tool that Pathway Trust in Christchurch uses to track and measure the impact of its programmes aimed at reducing recidivism.
For example, a three-year study from 2011 to 2014 showed that men who participated in Pathway’s Reintegration Programme were 43% less likely to re-offend within 12 months of release than if they hadn’t undertaken the programme.
Using this research, Pathway approached the Department of Corrections about setting up a pilot programme called the Navigate Initiative within Christchurch Men’s Prison.
Anaru Baynes, a therapist with the Department of Corrections for ten years and now Reintegration Manager at Pathway, set up the programme in 2018. Here, up to 20 tū ora (the name given to the men by local iwi Ngāi Tahu) live in self-care units on the prison grounds as they near the end of their prison terms.
Over six months, they are provided the necessary tools and opportunities to help them transition back into the community and make a fresh start.
Initially a two-year pilot, its success has resulted in it becoming an established programme in 2022. “The Navigate Initiative can now be accessed nationally through a referral system and we’re also looking to roll it out across other sites in Christchurch,” Anaru says.
Everything the Navigate Initiative does is focused on preparing the men for life on the outside. It is guided by seven pillars: strength and identity, skills for life, education, employment, oranga (mental wellbeing), whānau and accommodation.
Developing positive relationships with themselves, others around them and the world is the key that will enable men leaving the prison to build pro-social lives and not reoffend, Anaru says.
He describes the arts as a powerful tool in that process. “The arts connect them to humanity; to the things that most matter and can be hard to find in prison. Things like identity, hope, inspiration, motivation and connection.”
The men can participate in regular workshops with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and screen-printing with the Art-East creative space. There are also creative writing and waiata groups, a ukulele orchestra and a carving workshop. Read the full story
